Trent Reznor has revealed his top four favourite films of all time, and opened up about which movie was a “big inspiration” for Nine Inch Nails.
The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and founder of Nine Inch Nails gave the list to Letterboxd as part of its ongoing Four Favourites series, in which famous faces discuss which four films they would consider to be their favourites.
Speaking alongside Atticus Ross at the premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s new film Queer – which both Reznor and Ross composed the score for – the two shared their respective lists.
For both, Martin Scorsese’s 1976 classic Taxi Driver was the first listed, followed by 1986’s American neo-noir thriller Blue Velvet, which is directed by David Lynch.
For Ross, the remainder of his list was made up of the Eddie Murphy ‘80s classic Beverly Hills Cop and Jean-Jacques Beineix-directed psychological drama Betty Blue. For Reznor, he listed Julia Ducournau’s 2021 psychological drama Titane, as well as the 1988 horror mystery classic Dead Ringers.
“The incredible sense of dread from the first frame to the end. You’re not sure what’s going to happen, but it’s going to be bad,” Reznor said of the latter, going on to explain that the feeling was something that inspired him in his own work.
“I love it and it’s been a big inspiration for what I try to do with Nine Inch Nails. Make you feel bad, the whole time.”
@letterboxd Four Favorites with the cast and crew of Queer. ✨ Queer is in select theaters this Wednesday and releases wide on December 13 via @a24 #fyp #foryou #film #movie #letterboxd #fourfavorites
♬ original sound – Letterboxd
The film stars Jeremy Irons, who plays the roles of identical twins Elliot and Beverly, and a synopsis for the film reads (via Rotten Tomatoes): “Elliot, a successful gynaecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot is attracted to many of his patients and has affairs with them. When he inevitably loses interest, he will give the woman over to Beverly, the meeker of the two, without the woman knowing the difference. Beverly falls hard for one of the patients, Claire (Geneviève Bujold), but when she inadvertently deceives him, he slips into a state of madness.”
As for Queer, the film is a historical romance based on the novella by American author William S. Burroughs. Written by Challengers’ Justin Kuritzkes, it sees Daniel Craig take on the main character Lee, an American expat in Mexico City who becomes infatuated with younger man Eugene (played by Drew Starkey).
NME gave Queer a four-star review, with Matthew Turner writing: “Craig delivers one of his best performances to date as Lee, investing him with a palpable world-weariness and making you feel every moment of hope, desire, ecstasy and crushing disappointment.”
This isn’t the only film that Reznor and Ross have contributed to. Earlier this year, Disney announced that they would be serving as composers on the upcoming sci-fi flick Tron: Ares. Before that, they worked on The Social Network, Soul, Challengers and more.
In other Nails Inch Nails news, the industrial rock icons recently teamed up with Dr. Martens on the collaboration of ‘The Downward Spiral’ 30th Anniversary boot collection, and had their track ‘Hurt’ covered by 14-year-old drumming prodigy Nandi Bushell, in a delicate piano-led version.
